Summary of May 2010 paper prepared by NEC Company, Ltd. and Information and Privacy Commissioner,
Ontario, Canada the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada:

As the Internet has evolved, we have seen the emergence of “Cloud computing.” Organizations have begun to leverage the connectivity created by the Internet to optimize the utility of computing. Ever-cheaper and more powerful processing and storage capabilities are allowing data centres to act as viable, large scale central computing hubs. Simultaneously, increasing network bandwidth and reliable yet flexible network connections make it possible for clients – both individual and enterprise – to utilize high quality services which reside solely on these remote central hubs. These services will often include data storage (and real time access) or processing (by remote software and computing resources). This possibility, however, forces clients to re-think the data protection schemes developed for the point-A-to-point-B data flow.